showers & singing & slipping, oh my!
by shyesplease
Summary: Caitlin just wanted to take a shower in peace. For Snowbarry Week '17. Prompt: College AU


**A/N:** For Snowbarry Week '17.  
Prompt: College AU

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Caitlin's phone buzzed insistently until she blearily woke up from her deep sleep. Lying in her bed, her eyes heavy, the bioengineer-major groaned as she blindly reached for her phone on her night stand. As she grasped it and turned the alarm off, the light of the phone beamed way too brightly in the 5am darkness of her dorm room despite being on the lowest setting.

Eventually, she languidly sat up in her bed, rubbing away the sleep from her eyes. Caitlin only debated whether to go back to sleep or not for a moment, for she knew that she couldn't. Even though her first class wasn't until 9am, she still had to shower and eat and study. It was the shower part that really stuck out, however.

See, Central City University, while highly esteemed and acclaimed, mostly had dorms that were coed. And, unfortunately for Caitlin, all of those coed dorms also had coed bathrooms - meaning that guys and girls took showers in the same place, in cubicles right next to each other...

Now, Caitlin didn't consider herself a prude, but the thought still freaked her out despite being at the university for a couple weeks now. So to avoid leering and roaming eyes from seeing her in a towel, she had been forcing herself to get up early to shower in peace.

So she begrudgingly got up from her bed, stripping herself from her pajamas and into a soft, baby blue robe. Then in order to not wake her roommate, she quietly gathered up everything else she needed and left, tiptoeing down the hall and into the bathroom.

Upon entering, she surveyed the area to make sure that she was indeed alone and sighed in relief when she concluded that she was.

She made her way to a shower in the front towards the middle. She hung her towel on a hook outside of one of the white-tiled cubicles before entering the shower space. There she pulled off her robe, hanging the item by her towel, then quickly shutting the shower curtain securely afterwards, making sure both ends weren't left open before turning on the faucets.

Caitlin let the warm water cascade over her body to try and fight off the bitter chill that always encompassed the early morning air. Despite the chill, which she was slowly becoming acclimated to, Caitlin loved the sereneness of the early morning. While others might have found it creepy, Caitlin loved how the lights were still dull and had not yet brightened to their usual luminous intensity and how everything was quiet and docile; it was comforting and soothing.

Finally warming up, Caitlin then went through the motions of her usual shower routine. But as she was rinsing her hair of shampoo, she heard the door of the bathroom open and the patter of feet hit the bathroom titles.

She nearly slipped on the tile as she backed into the corner of her shower, listening. She froze, her eyes wide and her heart pounding soundly in her ears with dread as she heard the person walk closer and closer to her cubicle.

She kept getting flashes of thoughts that someone would rip open her shower curtain and humiliate her, or worse, assault or murder her (she never should have watched _Psycho_ with Cisco). She knew the statistics all too well, and suddenly, the thought of a lot of people present was appealing to the undergrad - most crimes were usually not committed with witnesses.

Luckily, however, the mystery person walked passed her cubicle, which provided Caitlin some relief. She further relaxed as she heard the pulling of a curtain and the water running from a shower further down the row from where she was. _She was okay. She was okay._

Having averted that crisis, Caitlin stood in the shower, pondering. She debated on whether she should try to finish up quickly and hightail it out of there or just wait the person out and leave after they finished. It was during her musings when the other occupant in the bathroom randomly began singing.

Caitlin paused mid thought to listen to the person (which she could now identify as male). The song was one she didn't know the words to but recognized as a song popularly played on the radio. The voice wasn't overly loud, but it could be heard clearly in her cubicle, and it was good. Like really good. It was very pleasing to listen to this person sing - his voice was melodious and smooth and it perfectly melded into her peaceful morning environment. She kind of wanted to stay to listen, as if she were the only attendee to a very private concert, but she immediately shook her head, scolding her mind for the tangent thought.

Back to forming her plan, Caitlin inferred that because the guy was singing, then that must have meant that he was obviously in no rush, therefore she should be able to make an escape simply and easily. She decided she was going to go for it.

Caitlin immediately turned her faucets off and hurriedly grabbed for her towel. Rushing, she managed to dry herself reasonably well before reaching for her robe and securing it snuggling against her body. She then stepped quietly out of her cubicle, trying not to bring attention to the singing stranger.

She rushed herself across the room, and she would have made it too, if she had not have scurried over a wet patch, slipping and falling roughly to the ground. "Ow," she moaned out, clutching onto her ankle which was throbbing with pain.

The singing abruptly stopped and the curtain opened enough so that the guy's head could poke through. "Oh, shit. Are you okay?" he hollered over the sound of his running water, his dark hair was matted down from the shower but worry was evident across his (beautiful) features.

Caitlin's eyes went round. This is exactly what she was trying to prevent. "Y-yes, I'm fine. Don't worry," she stuttered out.

He frowned but shut the curtain, causing Caitlin to emit a long exhale of breath. However, her heart rate spiked as she heard his shower's water turn off.

The guy soon stepped out from his cubicle with a white towel wrapped around his waist, showcasing his long, lean torso that was sprinkled with droplets of water racing down his impressive abs. Caitlin inwardly cursed, because of course the mystery person had to be hot! Her cheeks pinked with humiliation.

The stranger walked carefully over to her, concern still evidently etched on his face. "Did you hit your head?"

Caitlin lowered her gaze from his figure, knowing that she didn't need to further embarrass herself by getting caught staring at his chest. "No, I think I just hurt my ankle a twinge," she replied with a wince, all the while secretly wanting the floor to swallow her up so she could escape this awkward encounter.

"You're Caitlin, right?" the guy wondered, and it certainly got her attention.

She looked up, eyebrows scrunched. "Yes…" she answered uncertainly.

His eyes comically widened. "Oh wow, that probably came off as stalker-ish, that I knew your name, sorry. Or maybe you didn't think it was stalker-ish until now, when I just said that it was, especially because we're both in the bathroom together, alone, at such an odd time. But I promise I'm not, a stalker, I mean," he rambled on, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Caitlin bit her lip in an effort to suppress the developing grin that was vying for a chance to surface. It really wasn't fair that a guy with his looks could also ramble on adorkably - it was rather endearing.

"What I mean to say," he said after a deep breath, "is that I know you because we're in the same astronomy lecture," he shared with a strained smile, obviously embarrassed. "And I, uh, I know your name because the professor is always calling on you and you're always asking those insane questions."

She frowned. "Oh…" Caitlin let out, suddenly feeling very self-conscious of her actions in class. Did he think she was a weird know-it-all? Did everyone?

He must have caught onto this because he was quick to chime in. "Not that that's bad," he assured her. "Your questions are always very thought provoking and interesting. I always like hearing what you have to say…" he admitted sheepishly with a shrug.

Caitlin blushed further. "Well, thank you."

"I'm Barry," he then introduced himself.

"Hello, _Barry_ ," she said, testing out the name. In a way, 'Barry' seemed unfit yet somehow perfect for the man in front of her. "I don't think I remember seeing you in class," she expressed honestly.

Barry dipped his head down. "Yeah...my practice sometimes runs late so I have to end up sitting way in the back."

"Practice?" Caitlin inquired curiously.

Barry grinned cheekily, his chest puffed out proudly. "I'm on the track team."

"Hmmm," she hummed out. Of course, he was an athlete. Now the body made a lot more sense. "With your singing earlier, I would have thought you were in the glee club," she joked, but immediately regretted it - now _she_ sounded like the stalker, one who creepily listened to people sing in the shower.

Barry laughed, his cheeks growing red. "I was in the choir back in high school, but I guess because I was always running away from bullies, it eventually made this choir geek slash science nerd fast enough to earn a scholarship."

So he definitely wasn't the stereotypical jock she'd seen in movies and even saw thronged around campus. "You're really good," she complimented him. "Your singing, I mean. I haven't seen you run to properly assess you on that skill set."

He laughed again, heartier this time. It caused her to finally let herself smile. It was becoming quite difficult to not smile when he had such an infectious laugh and grin. "Thanks," he murmured, almost sheepishly.

"Well, I should be getting back to my dorm," Caitlin said, gesturing towards the door. She tried to lift herself up, but without anything to latch onto for support, she was unsuccessful.

"Need help?" Barry kindly offered, extending his hands to her.

Eyeing them for a moment, she eventually placed her hands in his very warm ones and let him help her up to her feet. As he pulled her up, she ended up _very_ close to his _very_ unclothed body, evident by the fact that she could clearly see every beauty mark peppered along his bare skin and could smell the soap that he had used.

"Thank you," she said quietly, taking a much-needed step back when she was fully on her feet, swallowing down her nerves. "I should probably get going."

Barry nodded, but his expression seemed minutely bereft of something. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it, looking indecisive.

"What?" Caitlin inquired, prodding him to voice what he wanted to say.

Barry looked back at her in shock, having not realized that she was paying attention to him so closely. He coughed, clearing his throat. "Oh, um, well, it's - it's nothing," he insisted.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he said, waving it off. "Do you need anymore help?" he then said, looking at her one foot elevated off the ground.

"I'll be fine," she told him. "My room is not far. It was nice to meet you though, and maybe I will see you later at our lecture," she said out of politeness, though she did hope she would see him again. There was just something about this Barry.

"Y-yeah, definitely," he responded dazedly, his grin wide as he bid her goodbye.

...

"Caitlin!" she heard someone holler in the lecture hall a few hours later.

She whipped her head around to see that it was none other than Barry making his way over to her with a brilliant grin on his face. She may or may not have felt a little flutter in her stomach as he approached her.

"Hey," he greeted breathily, bent down with his hands on his knees. "How you feeling, you know...with your ankle?"

Caitlin looked at him peculiarly before shaking her head and answering. "I'm - I'm fine. Minor sprain. Are _you_ okay? You're out of breath."

He waved her comment off with an impish grin. "I just...I just ran all the way over here so I wouldn't be late," he admitted, pausing to take in a deep breath, "I wanted to...get a good seat this time."

"Oh, well you definitely made it with time to spare," she pointed out, gesturing at the many vacant seats around them, seeing as there was still 10 minutes until class. "You pretty much have your pick."

Barry cleared his throat. "Oh, um, well, I was kinda hoping I could maybe sit next to...you?" he confessed, looking at her timidly.

Caitlin's mouth formed an 'O' as the flutters in her stomach intensified. "Yeah, I mean, sure, if you want."

Relief washed over his face as his lips upturned widely. "Thanks," he said, happily taking his seat in the desk next to hers. "It's really nice to speak to you outside of the bathroom for a chance," he remarked, but immediately winced. "Okay...that sounded...bad," he spoke, letting out an uncomfortable, stunted chuckle.

"And it's nice...to see what you look like with clothes on?" she tried, but only managed to word-vomit the commentary that had been running inside her mind, immediately blanching as they were spewed. "And that was equally as bad, if not worse than what you said," she bemoaned, slinking down in her seat.

Barry pressed his lips together, visibly forcing off a smirk. "We're quite the pair, aren't we?"

She tilted her head to the side. "I guess so," she answered, flashing him an uneasy grin.

A brief silence settled among the two as more students walked into the lecture hall. Caitlin tried studying her notes from last week's class, but Barry was proving to be a distraction. Not because he was next to her - though that was part of it - but because she couldn't help but notice out of the corner of her eye that Barry's leg was bouncing wildly and his fingers were tapping insistently against the desk top.

"Barry," she called out, but he was zoned out, looking intently at his shoes. "Barry!" she tried again, this time covering her hand over his to immobilize that particular annoyance.

"Huh?" he let out confusingly.

"You're bouncing your leg and tapping your fingers - it's a bit distracting," she told him.

His face crumbled apologetically. "I'm sorry. I-I just have something on my mind," he admitted.

Caitlin raised an intrigued eyebrow. "Like what?"

Barry opened his mouth to speak, but stopped when something downwards caught his attention. Caitlin followed his gaze and realize that she still had her hand on his. She quickly snatched her hand away, mumbling a 'sorry' as she did, her face heating up.

He cleared his throat before looking up at her, a hesitant smile in place. "Listen, earlier this morning, I kinda wanted to..." he stammered, "I was wondering if you wanted to come to my meet this Friday." he shyly offered.

Her eyebrows shot up. "Your meet?" she questioned, the tilt in her voice giving away at her surprise.

He smiled encouragingly at her. "Yeah, my track meet," he clarified. "And, you know, then maybe afterwards, you could let me know if you think I'm better at singing or running over a cup of coffee at Jitters…?" He looked at her expectantly and, dare she say it, hopefully. "If you're up to it, of course. Especially with your ankle, I'd understand if you weren't…"

Caitlin bit her lip, her mind screaming as the flutters in her stomach worked their way up to her heart. To think she almost didn't want to get up early that morning. "Yes, I'd like that," she answered quietly but earnestly, giving him a bashful smile.

Barry flashed his pearly white teeth her way, his green eyes alit. "Great," he enthused.

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 **A/N:** I thought it was just some simple and cute for a first encounter type thing. ;) **Let me know what you think in a review! :)**


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